Brunei-Muara Metro Service: Background

The topic of public transport has been discussed often in Brunei. Specifically, it tends to veer towards the usage of cars as the main method of transport in Brunei, as well as the high ratio of car ownership.

Without getting into specifics, car usage is a concern to Brunei due to: effects to the environment, energy use, traffic conditions, spending habits of Bruneians, investment on road infrastructure and road safety, and among others issues. The Government is aware of the challenges [1].

A few years ago, the opinions on the use of public transport were varied [2][3]. But it seems that, slowly, the country is moving towards seriously addressing this issue. For example, in 2011, RIPAS Hospital introduced free shuttle buses, allowing hospital visitors to travel between the hospital and the parking lot of the Jame’ ‘Asr mosque [4].

Even more recently in 2012, CSPS carried out a transport survey in October, with the aim to formulate a transport masterplan [5][6]. In December, the Tutong Youth Club held a race that included the use of public buses to get from place to place [7].

In terms of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) or a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the possibility has been deemed to be “not feasible” or sustainable [1]. It has been considered in the BSB Masterplan [8], with the public weighing in on the matter in letters to newspapers [9].

As mentioned in our post for the Brunei-Muara Metro Service idea, we did not intend to address the feasibility or cost-effectiveness of actually implementing such a system in Brunei. This doesn’t mean it is above consideration, even in a hypothetical situation. If these were to be effectively addressed by anyone else who wants to expand on our idea of creating the routes, we’d love to hear from you. 🙂

References (which are heavily biased towards a single news source, we know):